


Beast of Me

by MechanicalRoseBud



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fights, Gore, Intense, M/M, Master/Slave, Passion, Should be an interesting ride, Unfair Fights, Wounds, a lot of blood, crazy bullshit x1000, gonna be intense ya'll
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 23:54:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30130824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechanicalRoseBud/pseuds/MechanicalRoseBud
Summary: If the WoL was in Zenos's company a young age and how it would have affected them.A rivalry in their younger years turns into something deadlier as they grow older.
Relationships: Zenos yae Galvus/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

“My Lord, I bring a rare gift from the borders of Garlemald and the Gridania.” A man dressed in fanciful gear bent at the knee as he scuttled backwards doing a wide sweep of his arm toward the treasures he wanted to present to the Emperor and the young Prince. The large doors of the throne room opened and soldiers dragged in a handful of dark skinned people struggling to keep up with the harsh pace before they were shoved to their knees in front of the high thrones. 

The nobleman who brought them swept his hands dramatically as he smiled brightly, “I bring you a treasure! These are nomads who wandered the lands of and from a young age they begin to feed on poisons to protect themselves from predators all over. Exotic of skin,” he pointed toward the relatively dark colors of the people and their curious but cautious gazes as the three of them took in their surroundings. 

Varis zos Galvus, the Emperor, gazed at the display with a neutral expression as he waved his hand dismissively, “You would bring me savages? Unkempt, foul savages to my throne room and call them a ‘gift’.” The disdain though not worn on his face was heard in his voice as he shifted on his throne, his gaze turning sharp and pointed as the nobleman felt a shiver of fear but held to his conviction.

“I mean you disrespect, my lord. I believed their rarity would peak your interest and their abilities are an astounding resilience to poison along with others. They are a-”

“Silence.” The nobleman shut his mouth with a sharp click of teeth coming together with force as his heart dropped into his stomach and the Emperor sat up straighter, his eyes turning hard. “Remove your petty savages from my sight or they will be dead savages.” His voice was low and dangerous, echoing his sentiment the soldiers on either side lowered their spears as the chained people shrank together defensively. 

It was a tense moment as those spears drifted closer, more threatening. A low growl broke the silence and a short blur snapped out as a spear was violently smacked away. The source was a small boy growling and snarling like a feral beast as he jerked at his restraints tugging some of the retainers who didn’t expect resistance. The boy gave a strangled noise as he tugged back and the soldier jabbed at him nearly missing until the boy stiffened before a wet smack sent the soldier into a fury. 

“You brat! How dare you spit on m-” The soldier’s angry proclamation turned into a shrill scream as he threw down his spear and groped at his eye. “MY EYE! MY EYE IT BURNS!” The soldier howled as he collapsed rolling on the ground and screaming bloody murder as the rest of the soldiers descended and the retainers threw the child to the ground in a violent flurry of movement. 

The boy was slammed face first into the ground as he squirmed and screamed as savagely as the soldier who rolled in agony. Hands clawing at their eye as pink foam and a low sizzling bubbled from behind a hand as they flopped wildly before going still. Eye still bubbling and melting from the bloodied and oozing socket as they fell limp. 

Their face slack in a look of horror as it began to streak slowly with the bubbly, sticky remnants. The other eye bloodshot and partially rolled back, burning red lines on their face looked violently angry. The throne room was in chaos as the noble was grabbed and shoved to the ground as well. Everyone held down faces smashed against the smooth flooring as they wailed and cried, struggling but stilling as soon as a spear was shoved into their sides or against their throats. 

“How dare you,” The Emperor’s voice was cool but the anger was simmering under the clear cut words, “bring these savages to my land and now they’ve taken the life of one of my mine. Kill them,” he said with a snarl to his men as they reared back their weapons ready to drop them for the kill. 

“Wait.” The room froze at the sudden voice and the figure sitting in the throne next to his father finally spoke. A young man barely into his teens slipped from the throne as cold blue eyes swept over the scene before him. Even his father fell silent, Zenos had never spoken up or dared to move during these. He didn’t seem threatening. Not with his short blonde hair, blue eyes or delicate porcelain skin buried in the royal armor that seemed too heavy for his short, child frame.

His steps were loud in the quiet room, the boy's voice had been sharp and deadly though a knife cutting through the air. Each step brought him closer to the captives still and shaking, except one, as he turned to step before the squirming boy who’d spat into a man’s eye.

Zenos made a gesture and the soldier looked uncertain before a glance from those blue eyes stirred them into action as they took their knee from the wild boy’s throat. It was a sharp jerk as the boy moved quickly jerking their head up and eyes met. The moment stretched into eternity as they gazed at each other.

Purple and yellow eyes gazed hatefully into a cold, amused blue. The boy snarled and he bared his teeth, a growl caught in his throat as a gauntleted hand tightened around his neck. A strangled noise escaped as he clawed at it, nails uselessly digging into metal armor that squeezed harder as his gaze only deepend with bitter hate. His throat fluttered desperately before it disappeared as he dropped gasping while he touched his neck, eyes still glaring at the cold boy looking at him. Zenos did something that stunned the throne room into further silence. 

He smiled. 

It turned into a giggle as the boy prince burst into a full laughter as he threw his head back and his face lightened with a touch of pink. The dark skinned boy only looked confused as he rubbed his throat barking out coughs before pain caused a small yelp of surprise his head jerked back as stars burst into his vision. 

“What’s your name?” Zenos asked smoothly, his cheeks still pink from his amusement, eyes twinkling dangerously as he gazed down into the other boy’s mis-matched eyes. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The boy coughed and his lips twitched into a cocky grin before the harsh grip locked around his throat. He could feel it digging into him and how his neck fluttered as it struggled to hold up. A panicked thought of it being crushed and him dying like a smashed fly put fear in him as he gasped feeling hot tears roll down his cheeks. His vision began to black at the edges and a sense of numbness. The scrap of his nails against metal only made his panic more stark. 

The grip disappeared as he coughed and wheezed as his vision sharpened back onto the eyes gazing down on him. Full of mirth and vicious delight. “What is your name?” The amusement dripping in that monotone voice only made the boy wince as he flinched watching as the gauntleted hand pressed again on his throat. The threat there and obvious. All it took was another squeeze, a reminder. “Dren,” the boy’s voice sounded akin to a wreck from the abuse of his throat. Hands pushed the oppressive grip away as he poked tenderly at the bruises threatening to form. 

He squawked as his face met the ground and he flailed before rolling to his feet as another pearl of laughter filled the air as Dren looked owlishly at Zenos. The Prince was pointing as he laughed and spun to face his father, the Emperor, with bright amused eyes. “I would keep this one! I like him, he’ll be so much fun!” Zenos delighted as Dren looked stunned before horror seeped into his face. 

The Emperor gazed with surprise along with everyone else in the throne room before a smile twitched from the corner of his lips. “You may.” Zenos beamed as he graced the throne room with a smile that beamed excitement and his father was stunned into silence. He had never seen the boy display anything beyond a neutral, cold expression. He had never heard him laugh and it troubled him as much as the boy’s general cold nature. 

Zenos only beamed as he whipped back toward his new ‘pet’ and Dren gave him a look of disbelief. He never saw the strike coming as force flashed black into his vision and his last lingering sensation was the sharp crack of meeting the floor. Pain and the mocking bells of laughter the last thing he heard before the world turned black.


	2. Chapter 2

The grandiose halls of the Royal Palace were shockingly quiet at night. Idle mechanical lights warmed them but shadows stretched over the expansive hallways. Statues and carvings of rulers past gazed strictly from high walls. Their scornful looks watched as Dren quietly slipped between them making himself small as he slipped into tight ducts or hid amongst a cropping of plants. 

Purple and yellow eyes darted warily down the hallway as he slipped between the legs of another statue. A pompous ass whose name he didn’t bother to remember. Each step a quiet wisp that made Dren twitch in trepidation. He had to be quiet. 

Silent. Unnoticeable.

His form hugged the shadows as his heart beat erratically in his ears and he pulled tight against the wall. Blending in wasn’t a problem. His own dark skin was a nice camouflage but the silks and rough cloth that draped him presented a slight problem but the lights tonight. They reflected a rainbow tapestry and he could hide easily. A perfect night.

Dren followed the maze of the halls and couldn’t help a smile, a brim of hope peaking into his heart. He was getting close to the doorway leading into the courtyard he had been dragged into it a thousand times and spilt blood there a thousand more. A smile tugged at his lips at the thought not all of it had been his. He moved slowly and cautiously along the wall as his heart fluttered in his chest. 

Slow. Smooth. Silent. 

A mantra as he mouthed the words and slid around the bend, beams of light cutting across the intricately tiled floors. He’d never gotten this far before. This close. Dren had to keep the stutter in his voice quiet as he couldn’t help a small, breathless laugh. 

“What wanders in my halls at night.” Dren froze at the monotone that flooded the empty hallways. It came from all around. A threatening ripple in the quiet. 

“What,” a step, “treasure seeks to escape my clutches?” more steps echoed down the hallway and Dren didn’t wait to see where it was coming from. A quick flicker of light from above drew his eyes up at the arch of a window. Perfect. 

He didn’t waste another moment as he turned sharply and dug fingers into the minute crevices as he scaled quickly. Another few steps came from behind slow and steady as if he had all the time in the world. Dren growled as he threw himself at the window and it burst in a shattering of glass as he tumbled with a howl of curses on a perfectly manicured lawn. 

Dren scurried to his feet as pain laced his shoulder as he ran before making a sharp slide right once he caught sight of the maze. A sharp grin and a spike of terror in him made him bee-line into the high walls of the topiary walls. He weaved through it as he leaned onto his quick steps and once he was deep enough, he stopped. 

The only noise was his own heart again beating wildly in his ears. The high shelves of perfectly manicured grass his only companion as Dren felt his flesh prickle with icy fear and bitter adrenaline. His breath came in short, choppy noises that he barely held back to keep from exposing his own position. He needed to calm down, to settle himself. Dren breathed deep even as it stuttered and his heart rattled wildly in its cage. 

Breathe. 

Everything felt still and he stepped back slowly taking a moment to relish the freedom of it. The brisk, short grass was silk under his bare feet. The air felt warm and cool against his face when he gazed up at the sky he could see the moon. The dotting of stars spread on the inky canvas of the night soothed him but something moved. 

There.

Dren ducked and a thread of silver cut through the air where he stood. A high pitched lullaby that decapitated a tree carved into a horse. He snorted at the sight of it as he slid into some of the brush managing to hide at the last second.

“Now where could you have gone?” Dren narrowed his eyes at the lean figure stepping around and the glint by their side. It was disgusting. None had a right to look as Zenos did in the moonlight. 

Amethyst and a citrine gazed upon the figure of a man growing into his own. The figure of a boy barely into his teens dressed loosely. A simple, fine white shirt matched with dark pants as delicate, golden strands barely brushed his proud shoulders. Dangerously mute sapphires drew themselves over the sight before him and Dren’s stomach fluttered in a rising anxiety. He moved slowly not making a sound as his eyes were drawn to the silver catch by the man’s side. 

A sword. 

Dren stood by his comment of the other boy looking like a homicidal fairy. Between the muted looked of surprise and flash of anger, it had jazzed him to no end. The resulting stab had been worth it.   
Surprisingly, it looked new or at least it wasn’t one Zenos hadn’t shoved through him yet. He nearly scoffed but that would definitely introduce the blade into his body a lot sooner than he wanted it. Dren waited as the blonde stepped around taking his sweet ass fucking time to scan the area to his liking. This kid was fucking annoying even though he was kid too. He wasn’t THIS bad. 

“Come out to play, Dren. I have a new toy,” he didn’t have to look to hear the sharp hum of a blade drawing through the air. He’d heard it plenty of times directed at him no less. Zenos was baiting him and he had to resist viciously to avoid taking it. This was a game. Always a game between them. Who would give under the tension of their little ‘game’ and he wasn’t sure when it’d started. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin as the sharp blade stabbed into the ground inches from his face even though he was firmly buried in the brush. “I might even let you have a sword this time,” he fucking doubted that as he moved as slow as he could without stirring any of the topiary and he couldn’t stop the smile on his face. Almost. 

A sharp snap beneath his foot. “Fuck,” Dren jerked back as the topiary was torn to shreds as he backed up faster to avoid blade threatening to remove his goddamn face if he didn’t move fast enough. Once he felt air he rolled back as the green was eviscerated into shreds and his stomach churned at the smirk in those bright sapphires. “Fuck you,” he spat at the blonde’s feet as he drew back. 

Game over. 

Zenos drew up his blade and Dren could see himself in it. Angry purple and yellow bled into the dark color of his skin. The vicious contrast of blue hair streaked with white all melted into nothing as the blade flickered across his vision. 

And then there was blue. 

“You got much further this time. I actually had to try,” the blonde stepped in a small circle as Dren kept his eyes as he snorted, “Yeah, yeah, spew your pretty words all day at me, Zenos.” He sighed heavily as he threw up his hands. “I’d run but I’d rather you stab me through the front,” Zenos tilted his head, unblinking as he wore the faintest hint of a smile. 

“Keeping you,” the blond was on him as the blade slid against his skin, a pinch of it sinking. The bite bitter and vicious, “was the right choice,” Dren shuddered at the tone in his voice as he jerked away. His neck felt hot. Wet. 

If only he had a weapon. He could cut the smirk off of his face. If he could dig his nails into the delicate porcelain then Zenos would scream. He would see red and it would be...it would be beautiful. His palms ached for a weapon and he could only clench his fists.   
His blood felt hot. Bitter on his skin. Dren reached up to touch it and his own blood felt sticky. Tacky. “Come on, pretty boy. Let’s see if you can actually hit me with that pig sticker.” His voice stuttered as his ears rang and he crouched low. 

First time, when Zenos smiled, Dren didn’t feel the bitter edge of hate. He lunged and in that moment, he saw those blue eyes turn feral. To his credit, Dren didn’t feel when the sword cut deep into his hands as he tried to rip the arms from the Royal Prince. He snarled in hot, angry pain as he tackled the Prince even as cold steel buried into his belly twisting acute lines of fire into his veins. 

There was pain. Beautiful, burning agony that made his eyes water but it was worth it. Oh, the sight of those wide, blue eyes gazing up at him and the mad smile spread on the Prince’s face. For a moment, Zenos looked every part of the ethereal being he wasn’t. Golden hair spread beneath him as rubies smeared on his white skin and those eyes burned hot as coals. The moonlight making it all shimmer as though the emerald grass beneath had simply birthed him forth.

“You know,” Dren groaned as the burn settled deep in his body twitching around the blade, “you’re kind of cute.” He smirked at those eyes blinking and noted the soft rose rising in those perfect royal cheeks. It suited him. It suited him a lot. 

It occurred to him suddenly in those moments, they were just boys. Zenos was perhaps younger than him, maybe a year or so, but they were boys. He himself was only in his thirteenth summer soon to be his fourteenth, his first in the gilded cage of the Prince. His blood still sang with the urge to take even as he felt it slipping down the once virgin blade. Now christened by its first impaling and Dren, the lucky boy to do so. 

He hissed as he gripped the ground on either side of the pretty little head and gritted his teeth at the vicious ache throwing himself back. The scream sang into a howl as he looked at the angry tattered hole and rolled onto his belly. “FUCK IT HURTS!” Dren bit out as he hated the wet bite setting his nerves on fire. It hurt. It felt good. He didn’t know. 

Pain sparked as his head snapped back and the bite of a blade dug into his skin again, “Keeping you,” Dren dug his nails in ripping up the perfectly manicured lawn, “was,” it hurt in a way it shouldn’t hurt, “such a promising choice.” It was a searing burn that only echoed in the depth of his stomach, a hole of twitching bloodied flesh cut deep. The breath against his ear was scathing, not nearly as brutal as the burn against his throat or in his belly but close. 

His neck felt wet. Hot. Dren could only gaze into the sky above him as it was eclipsed by shades of gold and blue. “The rarest beast is a beast like you,” he would laugh but the blade was still there, it ached to cut in harder. He could feel it. 

“Yeah? Well fuck you too.” Dren hissed through the wet agony. Zenos laughed and it sounded kind of nice. As Dren felt the blood trickle out of his throat, out of his belly and probably out of his slowly going insane mind, he couldn’t help but laugh too. Somewhere between the bleeding and their laughing, he passed out. 

At least, he got further this time. 

As Dren went limp and still, though still breathing, Zenos pulled back giving a moment to consider such a rare gift to walk right into the throne room. He sheathed the sword and plucked up the wounded beast. It wouldn’t do to break this exotic creature before it could truly bear its fangs and what beautiful fangs they would be. 

Deadly. Powerful. And his. 

Zenos couldn’t help the smile on his face as he carried Dren inside, back to the gilded cage. He sighed as he held him closer, pressing his nose into the fur of the beast. He smelled of virgin dew in the morning’s light and bitter mint as he breathed in deep Zenos could just taste, if he closed his eyes and focused, the penny rich taste of copper beneath it.


End file.
